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Art.  XV. — Analyses  of  the  Waters  of  some  American  Alkali 
Lakes ; by  Thomas  M.  Chatard. 


In  the  course  of  the  geological  examination,  by  the  II.  S. 
Geological  Survey,  of  the  Great  Basin  or  country  lying  be- 
tween the  Rocky  Mountains  and  the  Sierra  Nevada,  samples 
of  the  waters  of  most  of  the  lakes  of  that  section  were  collected 
and  sent  for  analysis  to  the  laboratory  of  the  Survey.  Many 
of  these  analyses  were  published  in  Bulk  No.  9,  U.  S.  Geol. 
Survey,  but  when  I began  a special  study  of  the  more  import- 
ant sources  of  natural  alkalies,  for  the  purpose  of  preparing 
the  way  for  their  practical  utilization,  a re-examination  was,  in 
some  cases,  deemed  advisable  and  samples  were  also  obtained 
from  Owen’s  Lake,  California,  a locality  not  visited  by  the 
Great  Basin  party. 

The  four  analyses  here  given  represent  the  most  important 
alkali  lakes  so  far  known  and  as  the  waters  of  two  of  them  are 
now  being  utilized,  it  is  believed  that  the  information  will 
prove  of  interest. 

The  analytical  methods  used  are,  in  general,  well  known. 
The  carbonic  anhydride  was,  in  jail  ases,  determined  by  dis- 


/ 


v<c*- 


V 


147 


T.  M.  Chatard—  Analyses  of  Alkali  Lake  Waters. 

tillation,  being' collected  and  weighed  in  a potash  bulb.  For 
the  boric  acid,  in  the  water  of  Owen’s  Lake,  the  excellent 
method  of  Gooch*  was  followed  ; for  the  Mono  and  Ragtown 
waters  the  process  of  Stronleyer,  with  modifications  of  my 
own,  was  used,  but,  though  giving  very  fair  results,  the  pro- 
cess cannot  be  compared  for  ease,  simplicity  and  accuracy  with 
the  former  method. 

The  determination  of  the  alkalies  in  such  very  dense  waters 
was,  at  first,  found  to  be  difficult,  owing  to  the  large  quanti- 
ties necessarily  taken.  To  get  determinations  which  shall  be 
fairly  accurate  when  referred  to  a liter,  portions  of  not  less 
than  50  c.c.  should  be  taken,  the  water  in  all  cases  being  care- 
fully weighed.  The  amount  of  alkaline  chlorides  correspond- 
ing to  50  c.c.  of  such  waters  is  very  large,  and,  when  the  final 
evaporations  are  being  made,  there  is  great  liability  to  loss, 
owing  to  the  formation  of  a salt  crust  on  the  surface  of  the 
liquid  and  subsequent  spirting  caused  by  steam  and  ammonia 
vapor  produced  under  the  crust.  This  takes  place  no  matter 
how  carefully  the  evaporation  be  carried  on,  and  many  deter- 
minations were  thus  lost. 

The  use  of  hydrochloric  acid  enables  us,  however,  to  com- 
pletely obviate  this  difficulty.  The  purified  alkaline  chlorides 
are  to  be  evaporated  till  crystallization  begins ; the  platinum 
vessel  is  then  removed  from  the  water  bath  and  an  equal  bulk 
of  very  pure,  highly  concentrated  hydrochloric  acid  added  to  the 
solution.  A copious  precipitation  of  finely  granular  salts  at 
once  ensues,  and,  on  replacing  the  vessel  on  the  water  bath, 
evaporation  goes  on  quietly  and  rapidly,  no  salt  crust  is  formed, 
and  when  the  final  heating  is  given,  little  decrepitation  occurs. 
In  this  manner,  it  is  as  easy  to  handle  several  grams  of  chlo- 
rides and  to  obtain  accurate  determinations  as  it  is  when  we 
have  to  deal  with  the  far  smaller  quantities  usual  in  mineral 
analysis. 

Of  the  four  lakes  to  be  considered,  the  most  northern  one  is 
Abert  Lake,  in  south-eastern  Oregon.  The  sample  analysed 
was  “ collected  by  H.  T.  Biddle  at  middle  of  west  side  of  lake, 
one  foot  below  surface,  80-40  feet  from  shore,  September, 
1887.”  The  total  quantity  at  my  disposal  was  about  200  c.c., 
an  amount  too  small  for  any  extended  research,  but  sufficient 
for  all  practical  purposes.  For  each  determination,  25  c.c.  = 
25-7792  grams  were  taken. 

Specific  Gravity,  L03117  at  19.8°. 

* Gooch,  Proc.  Am.  Acad.  Sci.,  1886.  p.  167. 


T.  M.  Chaiard — Analyses  of  Alkali  Lake  Waters.  148 


Contents  in  25  c.c. 

A.  B.  Average. 

In  1 Liter. 

Per  cent. 

Hypothetical 

Composition. 

Per  cent. 

Si02  -0063 

•0053 

•00580 

•232 

•59 

Si02 

•232 

•59 

K -0J3.3 

•0136 

01345 

•538 

137 

KC1 

1-027 

2-62 

Na  -3674 

•3671 

•36725 

14-690 

37.51 

NaCl 

21-380 

54-58 

S03  0148 

•0146 

•01470 

•588 

1*50 

Na2S04 

1-050 

2-68 

O -0030 

•0029 

•00295 

•118 

•30 

Na2C03 

10-611 

27-09 

C02  *1755 

•1757 

•17560 

7-024 

17*93 

NaHC03 

4-872 

12-44 

O -0615 

0616 

•06155 

2-462 

6-28 

39*172 

100-00 

Cl  -3365 

•3366 

•33655 

13  462 

34-67 

H 

•058 

•15 

39-172 

100-00 

Proceeding  southwardly,  we  have  next  the  “ Big  Soda  Lake” 
near  Ragtown,  Churchill  Co.,  Nevada.  This,  with  the  adjoin- 
ing u Little  Soda  Lake,”  has  been  very  fully  described  by 
King*  and  by  Russell,  f and  my  own  observations,  during  ray 
short  stay  at  this  place,  were  confined  to  the  technical  aspects 
of  the  manufacture  of  carbonate  of  soda,  which  is  carried  on 
at  both  lakes. 

The  sample  of  the  water  of  the  “ Big  Lake,”  of  which  the 
analysis  is  here  given,  was  collected  by  Mr.  Russell  in  1881, 
and  was  taken  at  the  depth  of  one  foot.  The  analysis  was 
made  in  1884  and  was  published  in  Bulletin  No.  9,  U.  S.  Geol. 
Survey,  the  C02  being  then  determined  by  difference.  Since 
then  it  has  been  carefully  determined  in  duplicate,  with  the 
following  results. 

Specific  Gravity,  1*0995  at  19-8°. 


In  1 Liter. 

Per  cent. 

Hypothet.  Composition. 

Per  cent. 

Si02 

•304 

•24 

Sl02 

•304 

•24 

Mg 

•270 

•21 

MgC03 

•862 

•67 

K 

2-520 

1-95 

KC1 

4-817 

3-73 

Na 

45-840 

35-53 

NaCl 

71-507 

55-42 

b4o7 

•314 

•24 

Na2S04 

19-170 

14-86 

S04 

12  960 

10*05 

Na4B407 

•402 

•31 

co3 

20-934 

16-23 

Na2C03 

16  731 

12-97 

Cl 

45*690 

35-41 

NaHC03 

15-220 

11-80 

H 

•181 

•14 

— 

129-13 

100-00 

129-013 

100-00 

Mono  Lake,  Mono  Co.,  California,  is  next  in  succession. 
This  locality  is  described  at  length  by  Mr.  I.  C.  Russell  in  his 
paper,  “ The  Quaternary  History  of  Mono  Valley,  California,” 
which  will  shortly  appear  in  the  8th  Annual  Report  of  the 
U.  S.  Geological  Survey;  for  the  present  it  suffices  to  say 
that  this  large  body  of  water,  of  a composition  so  favorable  to 
utilization,  is,  for  practical  purposes,  inaccessible,  and  that  the 
high  altitude  and  consequent  shortness  of  the  evaporating  sea- 

* King,  Clarence,  U.  S.  Geol.  Expl.  40th  Parallel,  vol.  i,  pp.  510-513. 
f Russell,  I.  C.,  Geological  History  of  Lake  Lahontan,  U.  S.  Geological  Survey. 

Monographs  XI. 


149  T.  M.  Chatard — Analyses  of  Alkali  Lake  Waters. 


son  would,  under  any  circumstances,  render  the  success  of  any 
industry  established  there  very  doubtful. 

The  sample  analyzed  was  collected  by  Mr.  Russell  in  1882 
and  Avas  taken  at  the  depth  of  one  foot,  on  east  side  of  lake. 
Specific  gravity,  1*045  at  15*5°. 


In  1 Liter. 

Per  cent. 

Hypothet.  Composition. 

Per  cent. 

Si02 

•0700 

•12 

Si02 

•0700 

13 

K 

•9614 

1-79 

(Al2Fe2)03 

•0030 

•005 

Na 

19*6853 

36  81 

CaC03 

•0500 

09 

Ca 

•0200 

•037 

MgC03 

•1928 

•36 

Mg 

•055  L 

• .10 

Na4B407 

•2071 

•39 

(Al2Fe2)0 

3 -0030 

•005 

KC1 

1-8365 

3-44 

S04 

6-6720 

12-480 

NaCl 

18-5033 

34-60 

C03 

13-6903 

25*61 

Na2S04 

9-8690 

18-45 

b4o7 

•1600 

•30 

Na2C03 

18-3556 

34-33 

Cl 

12-1036 

22-64 

NaHC03 

4-3856 

8-20 

H 

•0522 

•10 

— 

53-4729 

100-00 

53-4729 

100-00 

Finally,  at  the  southern  end  of  the  series,  we  have  Owen’s 
Lake,  Inyo  Co.,  California.  This  lake  has  been  described  by 
Oscar  Loew  in  Wheeler’s  Report  for  18T6,  pages  189-194,  and 
upon  it  most  of  my  held  work  for  1886  and  1887  has  been  done. 
Its  greatest  dimensions,  as  given  by  Loew,  are  seventeen  miles 
long  by  nine  miles  wide,  its  greatest  depth  fifty-one  feet,  and 
it  contains,  according  to  his  calculation,  22,000,000  tons  of 
carbonate  of  soda.  The  Inyo  Development  Co.  has  begun  the 
manufacture  of  soda  at  this  point  and  to  it  I am  indebted  for 
every  needed  facility  for  making  observations  on  the  evapora- 
tion of  the  water  and  on  the  various  salts  obtained  by  its  frac- 
tional crystallization.  These  products,  together  with  others 
since  obtained,  are  under  examination  and  the  results  will  be 
published  later. 

The  sample  analyzed  was  taken  by  myself,  Sept.  17,  1886. 
Portions  of  100  c.c.  were  taken  for  each  determination,  the 
duplicates  - agreeing  very  closely. 

Specific  gravity,  1*062  at  25°. 


In  1 Liter. 

Per  cent. 

Hypothet.  Composition. 

Per  cent. 

Si02 

•220 

•28 

Si02 

•220 

•28 

K 

1-644 

2-13 

( Al2Fe2)03 

•038  \ 

*1  3 

Na 

28-500 

36-96 

(CaMg)C03 

•055  \ 

* IO 

Ca 

•014 

02 

Na4B407 

•475 

' -63 

Mg 

•005 



KC1 

3-137 

4-07 

Fe20; 

, -014 

•02 

NaCl 

29-415 

38-16 

A120, 

, -024 

03 

Na2S04 

11-080 

14-38 

S04 

7-505 

9-73 

Na2C03 

26-963 

34-95 

B407 

•367 

•49 

NaHC03 

5-715 

7-40 

C03 

19-398 

25-16 

Cl 

19-344 

25-09 

77-098 

100-00 

H 

•063 

•10 

77-098 

100-00 

L 

c 


T.  M.  Chatard — Analyses  of  Alkali  Lake  Waters.  150 


In  comparing  such  analyses,  to  determine  the  practical*  value 
of  a given  water  for  soda  making,  the  relation  of  the  amount 
of  sulphate  to  the  total  amount  of  carbonate  is  of  the  greatest 
importance,  since  the  greater  the  relative  amount  of  sulphate, 
the  more  difficult  it  will  be  to  obtain  a high  grade  carbonate  by 
simple  solar  evaporation.  If  this  relative  amount  is  small,  a 
large  excess  of  chlorides  may  be  present  without  materially 
complicating  the  process.  The  relation  between  the  mono- 
carbonate and  the  bicarbonate  should,  for  best  results,  be  a 
molecule  of  each  plus  an  excess  of  monocarbonate.  The 
amount  of  necessary  excess  is  not  yet  accurately  determined 
but  is  probably  under  a molecule.  Judged  by  this  standard, 
the  water  of  Abert  Lake  is  the  best,  Ragtown  the  worst,  of 
those  here  considered,  while  Owen’s  Lake,  occupying  a middle 
position  as  regards  purity,  is,  owing  to  its  geographical  position 
and  climatic  environment,  probably  the  one  best  adapted  for 
practical  utilization. 


* 


